My daughter needs to go to hospital

Hello,

My daughter suffered an ankle injury while skiing today. Possible fracture or bad sprain. We are in Iwate province and will visit the Iwate Prefecture Central Hospital tomorrow morning. Just wondering what to expect and how to navigate aJapanese hospital visit. What sort of time frames to get seen by a doctor and getting an Xray? What ito bring with us apart from passport and general health info?;How much money should I bring (do they take credit card).
We have international travel jnsurance from our Australain credit card so I will call them to set up a case once we get results from xray etc.

Also, if we do have to cancel the trip (we are scheduled to fly to Europe to continue our RTW trip on evening of 11 Jan but may have to cancel) what would be best plan of attack to organise a flight back home e.g. buy now and claim later from insurance company or do you generally work with the insurance company in planning and buying flights home. Any information and tips appreciated. thank you.

So much missing info. So my answers will be vague or generalised.

Most Aussie travel insurances don't cover skiing unless this is an add on you included.

Travel insurances you you back after you make a claim. You will need to pay yourself at the hospital.

Injury will determine how you navigate onward. Small fracture where only resetting is needed. Pop pain pills and move on. Big fracture requiring surgery, may not be able to fly for a week or two.

Either way, Europe is probably off the cards.

What to expect - hospitals are generally pretty good in my experience here in Japan, but like other countries, expect lots of waiting time. I've taken a few people to various ones around the country over the years.
Using google translate on your phone (or they may have a translation device) will be useful.
All the hospitals I have visited take credit card.
Contacting your insurance company sounds like a good idea.

https://www.pref.iwate.jp/iryoukyoku/1022378/1024311.html
They do accept credit card. As for how long you have to wait for consultation>x-ray, it depends.. can be from 30 mins to hours.

https://www.pref.iwate.jp/kyouikubunka/kokusai/1006971/1006994/1006997...
Check this if you require language assistance.

Thank ypu very much for all the information. We are on the way to the hospital now. Our hotel was nice enough to lend us a wheel chair as we make the trip into Morioka on shuttle bus and then grab a taxi.

Fortunately our travel insurance booklet states they only exclude "off piste" skiing (along with other high risk activities like sky diving, bungee jumping etc), so general skiing would be covered.

Cash for hospital will require me to run into a 7-eleven ATM.

As for flights home ( sounds like we will need to), we originally got good deals for business class seats on our trip back from Europe via Asia and another business class trip to Australua. Travel Insurance booklet says they will cover same class of travel we had intended to take if coming home under normal circumstances, so we just have to ring them and then book tickets with their blessing. Still a bit nerve wrecking as it will be expensive if they don't cover it.

Before you do anything you should be contacting your Travel Insurance company immediately for advice and setting up a case reference number asap. From my experience the travel insurance company will require specific evidence, information and reports from the hospital/doctors - it becomes too difficult if you just wait until your return home to commence a claim and not having these things.

because you was able to bear overnight, your bone might not be broken.
if you go to such a large hospital with no referral letter, they will charge additional fee.
in general, there are many clinics of orthopedic surgery everywhere in Japan. they have X-ray machines and they can make medical treatment, if your condition is not extremely serious (for example, not need a surgery. you only need cast fixation and medication.).

if you believe your bone is broken, do not hesitate to call ambulance. calling ambulance is free in Japan.